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Many people use Facebook or Twiter as a way to connect with friends or family about their lives. However, that is no longer the case today. Now, large organizations and corporations are using social media to connect with the consumers and see it as a way to manage their brand. One noticeable change that can be observed is how these organizations and big brands are using social media as part of their marketing strategy aside from the traditional form of advertising.

One such company who did a great job utilizing Twitter as part of their campaign was the automobile brand Volkswagen. The Volkswagen Twitter Zoom campaign was exclusive to Sao Paolo, Brazil and was based on a real-time treasure hunt concept. To promote Volkswagen’s new car Fox to the youths, the company sponsored Planeta Terra Festival which is a major music festival in Brazil. In order to win tickets, music lovers would have to find the tickets that were hidden all over the city. For the location of the tickets to be revealed on Google maps, people would have to tweet #foxatplanetaterra hash tag. When more people tweet with the hashtag, the map of ticket would zoom further in revealing the exact location, and the first person to be on location wins.

So the public’s reaction to the campaign?

To pull-off a successful campaign on social media is not an easy feat. Many companies have failed to do so. Why then was Volkswagen successful? Here are some factors that played a part to its success.

As seen from the 4 factors, Volkswagen was able to identify their target audience well and even used the proper medium to connect with the youths. Next, the campaign embraced Twitter’s main strength as part of their campaign, using the hashtag. When this hashtag started to trend, more people would be curious about it and eventually act as a catalyst to spread the word. With the treasure hunt concept, the campaign was able to connect fun with its target audience. Lastly, with an incentive which is tickets to the event of the year in Brazil, interest was generated thus expanding the buzz.

With social media, advertising today is made fun, interesting and interactive. More creative ideas can be generated with websites such as Twitter and Facebook. However, companies should be careful when embarking on an unconventional way of advertising as the plan could backfire and ultimately affect its branding. So what did you think about Volkswagen’s campaign? Do you remember any other campaigns/advertisements that used social media? Was it a successful one?